


Cartharsis

by BunniesofDoom



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nightmares, Volume 5 (RWBY), shameless self indulgence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: "So, c'mon. What happened to you at the fall of Beacon?"
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 7
Kudos: 47





	Cartharsis

**Author's Note:**

> I spent way too long on this hot garbage, so I'm just gonna go ahead and post it before I can think about it too much. Set at some point in Volume 5, after Yang's return but before the battle of Haven.
> 
> Enjoy!

"Do you believe in destiny?"

Pyrrha's voice echoes in Ruby's ears as her eyes fly open and she bolts upright, gasping for air. She glances around to find herself in her room in the house at Haven, not on top of the tower at Beacon. Slumping back against her pillow, she scrubs at her eyes and lets out a long sigh.

It's been months since Beacon, but the nightmares haven't gone away. If anything, they've only gotten worse, more vivid. And Ruby is tired of waking up in the middle of the night, head too full of bad memories to go back to sleep. The initial searing grief that accompanied the dreams has been dulled by exhaustion and frustration, which only makes her feel even more guilty.

She shakes her head to try to clear her gloomy thoughts and sighs again. When it becomes clear that she's not getting back to sleep anytime soon, she groans and sits up again, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and making her way out of her room towards the kitchen. She'll drink some warm milk, maybe read a comic for a bit, and hopefully let her mind quiet a bit, enough to let herself get a little more sleep before morning.

It's silent in the house as she makes her way down the stairs, and Ruby does her best to not make any noise. She doesn't want to disturb the others; just because she can't sleep doesn't mean that they shouldn't get their rest.

She pours herself a glass of milk and is just about to head back up to her room when she's startled by a voice from behind her. "Can't sleep?"

Ruby whirls around, nearly dropping the cup she's holding before she sees who it is and relaxes. "Oh, hey Yang. Yeah, I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. What are you doing up?"

"Jeez, jumpy much?" Yang raises an eyebrow. "And I'm up for the same reason that you are. Nightmares?"

"It's nothing."

"Right. Your hands are shaking, by the way."

That obvious, huh? Ruby winces. Then again, she doesn't know why she's still surprised when Yang manages to see right through her. "Yang, I'm okay, really, I just—"

"Tell you what," Yang cuts her off. "I really don't want to go back to bed right now, and I'm guessing you don't either, so why don't we chat for a bit?"

"Yeah, okay."

Careful to keep their voices down, they settle on the big couch in the living room. Ruby sips at her milk, avoiding eye contact with her sister as if that will save her from the questions she knows are coming.

"So, I'll bite. What's bothering you?" Ruby continues to avert her gaze, and fidgets with the sleeves of her too-small pajamas. "It's about the fall of Beacon, isn't it?"

Ruby whips her head around to stare at Yang. "Uh, yeah. How did you—"

"I know that you told Qrow some of what happened, but every time dad and I tried to ask you, you'd just shut down."

"Look, Yang, I don't want to talk about it."

"But, Ruby—"

"I can't!" she blurts out, clamping a hand over her mouth when realizes that she's being too loud. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

"You're going to have to talk about it eventually, even if it hurts. And the longer you wait, the worse it's going to be. So c'mon. Tell me what happened during the fall."

Ruby lets out a long sigh and scrubs at her face. Her fingers come away wet—when did she start crying? "Okay," she finally relents. "I'll tell you about what happened, if you tell me about what happened to you."

Because Ruby isn't the only one who refuses to talk about these things, and how is she supposed to help her sister if Yang won't talk to her?

"Alright," Yang replies. She sounds a bit taken aback, but she's smiling. "You've got yourself a deal then, sis."

When Ruby is silent, trying to compose herself, Yang sighs. "Here, I'll even go first. There's not really that much to tell, though."

"When the attack started, I was back in the dorms, watching the match. I immediately went out to help, and I tried to call you. When you didn't answer, I was worried, so I managed to get ahold of Weiss and Blake. They didn't know where you were either, but we decided to try to find each other and meet up."

Yang sighs. "I eventually found Weiss, but she and Blake had gotten separated, so we decided that she would look for you and I would go after Blake. And I found her, but." Here she hesitates. "When I found her, Adam was standing over her, and Blake . . . I've never seen her look so terrified. And Adam, he looked so smug. He's pure evil, Ruby."

"So I didn't even think about it, just went and charged in, and well," She sighs again, gesturing to her arm. "You know the rest."

"I'm sorry, Yang." Ruby has been staying quiet, trying to let Yang tell her story, but she can't help but say something now.

"Don't be. It's not your fault this happened. If I'm being honest, something like this was bound to happen eventually."

"What do you mean?" Ruby frowns, tilting her head in confusion.

"Well, dad and I had a talk about it once I was feeling up to it, and he pointed out that I had been relying on my semblance too much when I fought. And while it definitely wasn't easy, I'm grateful that I at least lived to learn from it."

"Wow, Yang, I—" Ruby isn't sure what to say. "Still, I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm just glad that you're okay."

"I'm not completely okay, but I'll get there someday. I still have nightmares from that night, and I still see flashes of him when I'm not expecting it, but I'm not going to let that stop me from living my life."

Ruby smiles at her sister. "You sound like Ren, all wise and deep."

Yang smiles back at her. "I can be deep, sometimes, you know." She runs a hand through her hair. "Anyway, enough about me. What happened to you, the night Beacon fell?"

The smile slips off Ruby's face. "Where do you want me to start?" she hedges, reluctant.

"From the beginning, I guess." Ruby shoots her a pointed look. "Okay then. Where were you when Penny—" Yang cuts herself off with a wince.

Tears spring to Ruby's eyes. "I should have stopped it," she mumbles. "I knew what was going to happen but I got to the arena just in tine to find Penny in pieces."

"Ruby, it's not your fault. There's no way you could have known—"

"But I did!" Ruby bursts out. She lowers her voice before continuing. "I knew that something was going to happen, but I was too late."

"What do you mean?"

Ruby takes a deep breath to compose herself before continuing. As much as it hurts to talk about it, part of her does feel a little better when she talks about it. "I was going to watch the match, but I spotted Emerald in the crowd. She was supposed to have been heading back to Haven with Mercury, so I was confused. I wanted to go ask her what was going on, so I slipped into a maintenance staircase. Then I ran into Mercury."

"He was there too? I thought he couldn't even walk."

"He seemed to be doing just fine when I saw him." Yang scowls and clenches her fists. "Anyway, then they announced the matchup, and I realized that Penny was in danger because of Pyrrha's semblance, so I went to try and warn her and Pyrrha. But Mercury wouldn't let me pass. He broke my scroll so I couldn't call for help or get my weapon, and by the time I got to the area . . . it was too late." She sniffles.

Yang wraps an arm around her. "I'm so sorry, Ruby. But you know that wasn't your fault, right? That was Mercury's fault, and Emerald's fault, and Cinder's fault. You tried your best. They're the ones responsible, not you."

"Thanks, Yang." She wipes at her eyes. Penny's death still hurts just as much as if it happened yesterday.

"So, what happened next?" Yang prompts her, sensing her reluctance.

Ruby sighs. This next part is a little easier to talk about, even if Torchwick's fate is still too disturbing to think about for too long. "Well, a Nevermore attacked the arena. It broke through the force fields but Pyrrha was still in shock, so I was going to fight it with one of Penny's swords, but then a bunch of the other students summoned their weapons lockers and trapped it underneath. We were going to stay in fight, but then Professor Port and Professor Oobleck told us to go back to the school."

"But you didn't"

"No. I was going to, but then General Ironwood said something about not being able to get ahold of his fleet. So, I jumped out of the airship at the last minute and used of one the rocket-powered lockers to get on top of one of the ships."

"Once I was up there, I ran into Torchwick and that girl he always has with him. I fought them, but I got disarmed, and then—" She swallows hard. "Torchwick got eaten by a Nevermore."

Yang winces. "That's—"

"Terrifying, yeah. I didn't like him at all, but it was awful." She takes a sip of her now-warm milk and continues. "After that, I grabbed Crescent Rose and headed back down to the school. When I got there, I ran into Weiss. I was so glad to finally find you guys, but then you were hurt . . . and Ren and Nora, and Jaune and Pyrrha were still missing."

"So," Ruby finds herself talking faster now. She's so close to the end, to getting this over with. But now she's getting to the hardest part. "I said I would find Jaune and Pyrrha, and Weiss insisted on coming with me. We—" She pauses. "We got a call from Jaune, asking us to find Pyrrha. He wouldn't tell us where he was, just told us that she's gone after the woman at the top of the tower."

She can see it now, Grimm crawling all over the school and the fight at the top of the tower. Closing her eyes, she shudders and forces herself to banish the images. "We tried to get to her, but we were having to fight our way through the Grimm and it was taking too long." She stifles a sob. "So Weiss used her glyphs to make a path for me, and I ran up the side of the tower. But I was too late." Her voice drops to barely a whisper at the last part.

"Ruby, you don't have to—"

But Ruby is determined to finish this before she breaks down completely. She's so close, even if it hurts. "Pyrrha, she was already gone before I got there. Cinder shot her right—right in the chest. And then she burned her body, so there was nothing left." She chokes on the words; it feels like they're strangling her. But she manages to spit them out anyway. "And then, well, I just remember everything going white and my head hurting really bad, and then I woke up at home. And everyone was gone."

She did it. It's finally done.

Ruby bursts into tears, finally allowing herself to cry properly. "Ruby, hey, it's alright."

She cries for a long time, drifting in and out of awareness. When she comes back to herself her eyes are sore and puffy, and she realizes that she's been sobbing into her sister's shoulder for an unknown amount of time. "Sorry," she mumbles hoarsely, voice absolutely wrecked.

"Don't be. Sounds like you needed that." Yang's voice is gentle. Ruby feels a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"Yeah, I guess that you're right." Now that she's done talking, Ruby feels a wave of exhaustion wash over her. "Yang? I'm really tired."

Her sister gives a tired chuckle. "I bet."

Before she drifts off completely, Ruby decides to voice something that's still bothering her. "Yang? This isn't your fault either, you know that? Emerald tricked you with her semblance, and what happened with Adam, you were just trying to help."

Ruby feels a hand brush her hair away from her face. "Yeah, I know," Yang says softly. "Go to sleep, Ruby."

For the first time in months, Ruby doesn't have any nightmares. When Ren finds them there in the morning, still snoring on the couch, he throws a blanket over both girls before starting on breakfast.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos.
> 
> me: I have never written a good fic in my life, ever
> 
> anyone who follows me: we know this, and we hate you


End file.
